Lavender Honey Ice Cream with Chopped Dark Chocolate

This homemade lavender honey ice cream is rich, smooth and creamy, slowly churned until thick, and flecked with chunks of chopped dark chocolate. The crunch of the chocolate with the luscious lavender ice cream sweetened with honey makes a wonderful treat for warm days!

You might also love these lemon honey lavender popsicles and lavender lemon cake.

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Cooking and Baking with Edible Lavender

When baking and cooking with lavender, less is more. The flavor can be quite potent, and if you overdo it, the lavender will overwhelm, rather than enhance your dish. Too much lavender will add a soapy flavor to your baking, but just the right amount adds wonderfully subtle floral notes of herbs and mint. If you’re not sure you’re going to like it, I’d suggest starting with less than the recipe calls for, and adding more later.

There are many varieties of lavender, and while all are considered edible, a few varieties are more commonly used for culinary purposes. The best lavender for cooking are the sweet scented varieties, such as English lavender.

You can bake and cook with culinary lavender in so many ways, such as steeping the dried flowers in milk to use in cakes, custards, and ice cream. Or add the stalks to your grill or campfire, to infuse the lavender smoke into grilled meat. And for a pretty garnish, scatter the fresh lavender flowers over your baked goods.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

• Heavy Whipping Cream + Whole Milk. Adds fat and richness for a smooth, creamy, luxurious texture in homemade ice cream.
• Dried Edible Lavender. Flavors the ice cream with a wonderful hint of lavender.
• Honey + Granulated Sugar. Sweetens the ice cream, as well as promotes a smooth texture.
• Egg Yolks. Add richness.
• Vodka. Lowers the freezing point of the ice cream, for a smoother, creamier texture.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Gel Food Coloring. Without food coloring, your lavender honey ice cream will be an ivory color, so add a few drops of purple or violet gel food coloring for a purple ice cream.
• Dark Chocolate. Chocolate complements lavender beautifully, and chopped dark chocolate (rather than chocolate chips) adds delicious flecks, shavings and chunks of chocolate all through the ice cream.

Instructions

Steep the Lavender in the Milk and Cream.

• Combine the cream, milk and lavender in a saucepan.  Bring to a gentle simmer, then turn off the heat, cover the pan and let steep for about an hour.

Cook the Custard.

• Return the milk/cream mixture to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
• In a bowl, whisk together the honey, sugar and egg yolks.  Gradually whisk a cup of the hot cream into the egg mixture to temper the eggs, then scrape the egg mixture into the saucepan.
• Cook the custard while whisking constantly, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Even if it doesn’t thicken very much, you should remove it from the heat before it starts to boil.
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the vodka, vanilla and food coloring, if using.

Chill and Strain the Custard.

• Cover with plastic wrap, resting right against the surface of the custard, and chill overnight.  Pour the chilled custard through a strainer to strain out the lavender.

Churn and Freeze the Ice Cream.

• Churn the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions, until the ice cream is a soft-serve consistency.  Fold in the chopped chocolate.
• Transfer to a container and freeze until firm, about 6-8 hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does lavender taste like?

• When baking and cooking with lavender, less is more. The flavor can be quite potent, and if you overdo it, the lavender will overwhelm, rather than enhance your dish. Too much lavender will add a soapy flavor to your baking, but just the right amount adds wonderfully subtle floral notes of herbs and mint. If you’re not sure you’re going to like it, I’d suggest starting with less than the recipe calls for, and adding more later.

Where can I buy culinary lavender?

• You can purchase culinary lavender online, or find it in your local tea and spice shops, as well as specialty grocery stores.

Can I substitute lavender oil or lavender extract for the dried lavender?

• You probably can, but I can’t say how much you should use, since I’ve never baked with lavender oil or extract.

Do I need an ice cream maker for this recipe?

• Yes, this is a traditional, custard based ice cream that needs to be churned in an ice cream maker. I use the Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Maker Attachment for my stand mixer.

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